+ Evening Prayer +
451 STRICKEN, SMITTEN, AND AFFLICTED
1 Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
See Him dying on the tree!
’Tis the Christ, by man rejected;
Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He!
’Tis the long-expected Prophet,
David’s Son, yet David’s Lord;
Proofs I see sufficient of it:
’Tis the true and faithful Word.
2 Tell me, ye who hear Him groaning,
Was there ever grief like His?
Friends through fear His cause disowning,
Foes insulting His distress;
Many hands were raised to wound Him,
None would intervene to save;
But the deepest stroke that pierced Him
Was the stroke that justice gave.
3 Ye who think of sin but lightly
Nor suppose the evil great
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the sacrifice appointed,
See who bears the awful load;
’Tis the Word, the Lord’s anointed,
Son of Man and Son of God.
4 Here we have a firm foundation,
Here the refuge of the lost:
Christ, the Rock of our salvation,
Is the name of which we boast;
Lamb of God, for sinners wounded,
Sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded
Who on Him their hope have built.
Text: Public domain
PSALM 1
1Blessèd is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
4The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
+ READINGS +
READING Luke 22:54–71
54Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house, and Peter was following at a distance. 55And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. 56Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” 57But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” 58And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” 59And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” 60But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. 61And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62And he went out and wept bitterly.
63Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. 64They also blindfolded him and kept asking him, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?” 65And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him.
66When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes. And they led him away to their council, and they said, 67“If you are the Christ, tell us.” But he said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe, 68and if I ask you, you will not answer. 69But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” 70So they all said, “Are you the Son of God, then?” And he said to them, “You say that I am.” 71Then they said, “What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips.”
CATECHISM REVIEW
The Close of the Commandments
What does God say about all these commandments?
He says, “I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.” (Ex. 20: 5–6)
What does this mean?
God threatens to punish all who break these commandments. Therefore, we should fear His wrath and not do anything against them. But He promises grace and every blessing to all who keep these commandments. Therefore, we should also love and trust in Him and gladly do what He commands.
SERMON
As we sang in the hymn,
But the deepest stroke that pierced Him
Was the stroke that justice gave.
We believe in justice. We don’t always see it. Too often, cheaters win. And the righteous suffer because of the cheating. But we believe a day will come when our Lord will return to judge the living and the dead. We believe, even when we cant’ see. It’s what God says. He threatens to punish all who break his commandments. It is good and right to fear the justice and verdict of God.
It’s a futile effort to try to avoid this justice from God. Many try to, maybe sometimes you’ve tried to as well, “Ye who think of sin but lightly, Nor suppose the evil great.” We sinners try in vain to make excuses for our sins, trying to say that they are not so bad, that they are just a part of life. Looking around and seeing that everyone else is doing it, the sinner says, “I can’t be held accountable; I can’t be judged by God; God’s not so vengeful and mean.”
God speaks clearly about how good He is, and he says clearly about how bad sinners are, and why you need to flee from sin and seek help and mercy from His perfect justice. No one can be excused, or vindicated by that justice, none but One, the only righteous, holy and perfect One, Jesus our Savior.
Justice was particularly hard on Jesus that day in Jerusalem. Everyone around him was hating God and disobeying God’s commandments, and Jesus, the innocent One was being punished.
The accusers and prosecutors so obviously hated God and and everything about God. Peter loved his own skin and his own reputation more than God, so he tried with all his will to distance himself from God and God’s anointed, His friend and teacher, Jesus. In fact, the conclusion of the commandments teaches us that all sin, all breaking of the commandments is a result of hating God, instead of loving God. Why would you take His name in vain? Do you despise Him so? Why are you unfriendly and uncaring about the people whom He so carefully made and kept? Do you hate God so much that you can’t stand even His handiwork?
For these sins, Jesus was found guilty. For Peter’s sins. Even for the soldiers hateful sins and your sins and mine, justice fell to Jesus.
This is where we can so clearly see God’s justice, accomplished for our good. At the cross we are led to even more carefully and thoroughly examine ourselves and our guilt. At the cross we long even more to be made right and whole, declared innocent and free by that lovely justice.
The leaders of the Jews were convinced Jesus committed blasphemy, a crime worthy of death. He admitted and did not deny being the Son of the Living God. That’s a very clear case of blasphemy. Claiming to be equal to God, on the same level as God, is of course, serious, the most serious sin. Unless of course, it’s true, as it was with Jesus.
So since Jesus is the Son of God, equal with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. What of those who would not accept Jesus? What of those who say to him, “No, you are wrong. We don’t agree with what you say. You can’t trick us.”? Such accusers of our Lord put themselves into a position of authority over him, pretending to be more important, more powerful than he, who is the Son of God. Ironically, when they condemn Jesus with lies and cheating trials, they make themselves out to be in the place of God. They themselves are the ones who commit the damnable sin of blasphemy.
So it is with any who would hear what God says, and then say, “No, that’s old-fashioned. It doesn’t make sense. I don’t have to follow or accept that. I’ll decide what rules I obey and what beliefs I reject.” It’s blasphemy to pretend you know better than God. Remember you are the created one, He is the Creator. It would be blasphemy to think otherwise.
Jesus died for your sins. He was charged with blasphemy. Not that he did it. But because you and I have done it, every time we would like to do what the devil promised we should do when he said, you will be like God. The guilt of blasphemy is on us.
Lamb of God, for sinners wounded,
Sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded
Who on Him their hope have built.
Amen.
P O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy, be gracious to all who have gone astray from Your ways and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of Your Word; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
P O God, from whom come all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works, give to us, Your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, that our hearts may be set to obey Your commandments and also that we, being defended from the fear of our enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C Amen.
LORD’S PRAYER
C Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name,
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;
give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
BENEDICAMUS LSB 252
P Let us bless the Lord.
C Thanks be to God.
BENEDICTION LSB 252
P The almighty and merciful Lord, the Father, the T Son, and the Holy Spirit, bless and preserve you.
C Amen.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Evening Prayer from Lutheran Service Book
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2021 Concordia Publishing House.
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